Threadcounts
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: [drabble collection] They were small and almost insignificant in the larger picture, but without those moments, the story of life would fall apart. / 19. When Kazuma first met Astral, he reminded him of Yuuma, 20. Even after Galaxy Queen was gone, it was still Robin who walked out the door, 21. Akari tried to stop Yuuma's duels, but their grandmother encouraged him instead.
1. Durbe&Nasch, Friendship

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile)

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><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Durbe, Nasch  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo, #011 – genre: friendship

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><p>Nasch was relieved to see the silhouette of Durbe and his Pegasus against the clouds. He wasn't the first to spot the pair; guards had been on watch since an afternoon ago, and one had ran to his throne room with the news.<p>

By the time he and Merag had emerged on the balcony, children from the palace had spilt into the courtyard and were pointing excitedly. But Nasch could not be excited, nor happy: just relieved. And Merag, always there like the supporting shadow that walked just behind, was equally sombre and relieved.

Durbe and his Pegasus landed down below, and the children surged forward. It took a moment for the young knight to untangle himself from them, then another as he spoke with two of the guards.

Nasch frowned a little as he remembered his argument with them. Merag squeezed his shoulder, and the pair of them watched Durbe bid farewell to the guards and make his way inside. He confessed himself pleased to note the guards hadn't insisted on escorting him – though he couldn't blame their suspicions. With war looming overhead, an enemy could attack from anywhere.

But Nasch trusted Durbe, and soon, Durbe is in the throne room and wearing a tight smile, and Nasch is wearing an equally forced expression as he embraces his friend. 'I was worried you wouldn't come,' he confessed as they parted and Durbe bowed politely to Merag, who replied with a curtsey.

Durbe's expression softened a bit. 'I had to come,' he said. There was much else he could have said after that, but he chose the simplest of them: 'I am your friend.'

Nasch hid his expression to that, so Merag took the reins of the conversation. 'I hope the guards did not trouble you,' she said. 'I'm afraid we're all a little on edge as of late.'

Durbe looks at the still-strained form of Nasch before replying: 'Not at all; they simply told me to look after their King.'

Nasch nodded slowly at that. 'I see,' he said, before giving his head a little shake. 'Durbe, do you bring any news with you?'

Durbe did, and with it their brief reunion came to a halt, and the war council which he had come to attend began.


	2. Vector's Father, Lost

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

**_This drabble contains spoilers for episode 137. If you haven't seen it yet and don't want spoilers, don't read on. Including the rest of this A/N._**

A scenario in which Don Thousand's manipulation stretches further than just the generation of the Barians. Why was Vector's father so obsessed with domination? Why was he still with his wife if their ideals clashed so dramatically? With how that episode and the couple following it changed my outlook on Vector (though I had my suspicions, because it's Yugioh and everyone has a reason somewhere. :D), I wondered if the same couldn't have been applied to Vector's father as well.

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><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Vector's Father  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Character Diversity Boot Camp, #050 – lost

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><p>He had hoped to gain much more before succumbing to his wavering heart, but when the weakness left him unable to move, he was forced to leave matters to his son.<p>

He worried about that, endlessly. He'd tried to teach him how to rule: what power really meant and what means one had to be willing to obtain it. He'd tried to imprint the importance of utter domination and control – but he worried, because Vector had his wife's softness as well.

And he had been right to worry, he knew, when he heard his son tell of how he'd lain down all he'd fought for these long years for the illusion of _peace_. As if such a wretched thing existed, except in foolish dreams. He would have struck it out of his fanciful son if he could, except he could not raise a hand to do so.

He dropped his flask instead, watching it shatter like his hope for the future. Red wine spilled out like blood and gurgled on the shards and his vision became utter black, and before he knew it, that same blood was bathing all of them as well: himself, the wife he had once loved before her hopes for peace and his bloodlust had driven them apart, and the dear sweet son they'd sired together.

He saw the reaper before his eyes close, and in that last, merciful, moment he tasted the blood that stains his form and asked how he could have become such a monster. But it was too late, and too late to warn his son as the reaper goes towards his next victim; he'd already said it all, said everything that would send the world back into a world of darkness and war.

He remembered, for a faint moment, the dream he had had for peace before the reaper had consumed him. And, as he died, he saw that same dream sucked out and swallowed by his son, lost until death – or even more.


	3. Shark&Yuuma, Friendship

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile)

I had two 011 numbers on my card, hence two with the same "prompt". :D

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><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Shark (Ryouga), Yuuma  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo, #011 – genre: friendship

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><p>Shark had no-one. Once he'd had his parents. They'd died when he was still a kid. Once he'd had his sister. Some bastard had snatched her away from him and left her in a hospital bed. Once he'd had adoring fans cheering him on to the finals. He'd lost them when he'd been disqualified, disgraced. Once he'd had his gang. They'd abandoned him when he lost to Tsukumo Yuuma.<p>

And yet he couldn't think of hurting Yuuma, of making him pay. How that boy had been, fighting for his friend and putting his own deck and precious Ou key on the line, had awakened something in him, something that tangled with the bitterness of being abandoned and alone. Something that made him think, fleetingly, that he'd never had a _friend_.

Yuuma had said something like that, hadn't he? That those he duelled became his friends. That _Shark_ could become his friend.

Except Shark didn't have friends, and if he had them, they'd either abandon him or he'd get them hurt.


	4. Kissushipping, Maximum

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile)

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><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Pairing(s)<strong>: Kissushipping (Akari/Charlie)  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Pairing Diversity Boot Camp, #004 - maximum

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><p>She didn't plan on waiting forever for him; she couldn't do that. She'd fallen in love before after all, and moved on, burying looks and letters and fluttering kisses under new stories she dug out from the world. It was one of the perks of the job: she could never be alone and stagnated, a floundering fish who'd lost their life's anchor, because too much more of the world had her in its grip. Stories of break-ins, gang wars and duelling tournaments and her brother's troubles left no room to wander after lost romances from the past.<p>

But when _he_ came along to dig up old memories, it was another ballgame. And one she didn't like playing. She preferred her past buried, done with and forgotten once it had passed. Oh, she didn't mind the sparse school reunions or the bumping into old friends at the mall. But seeing Chris suddenly appear and disappear only to reappear again once she'd put him out of mind was another thing; it was like a butterfly she couldn't catch and stamp and then set aside, or like the monthly pains that came with womanhood, except he wasn't that predictable, only flushing her clean and filling her head again as he held her close and kissed her full on. And her head and heart would be filled to the brim when he vanished again, until he stopped vanishing and she stopped moving on.


	5. Yuuma&Astral, ZEXAL

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile)

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><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Characters(s)<strong>: Yuuma, Astral  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo, #190 - ZEXAL

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><p>Yuuma had always been in awe of the power to Xyz summon, but he'd never imagined himself being overlayed. It was inconceivable after all, him being a human, and the one doing the duelling no less. But Astral had somehow made it possible.<p>

He'd been overlayed with Astral, and that's how ZEXAL came into being. A new form, that somehow combined the two of them together, made them one, bonded them even closer than before. It wasn't like Yuma being the arms for Astral, or Astral the encouraging voice and backbone for Yuuma. They were one – one being, with one body, one heart and one mind.

It seemed natural after that to continue this way, when they could, when they'd been pushed into a corner. Because two heads were better than one, but two combined heads to make one were better than two individuals. Yuuma and Astral were most powerful when they were together, and ZEXAL quickly became the thing that tipped the scales in times of strife.

At first, Yuuma couldn't imagine now. Now, he can't imagine otherwise.


	6. Astral&Yuuma, Dark ZEXAL

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile)

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><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Characters(s)<strong>: Astral, Yuuma  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo, #193 – Dark ZEXAL

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><p>Astral never imagined himself losing faith in Yuuma, but Vector had drawn it out of him. He couldn't even blame Vector for it, because he couldn't have drawn that doubt out if it had never existed.<p>

He felt horribly guilty about it afterwards, seeing what it had done to Yuuma, and their duel. But he hadn't been able to help that doubt, or the bitterness and pain that had accompanied.

If he'd thought about it more rationally, he'd have realised it was Yuuma's nature to trust so carelessly, and he really couldn't have done anything different. He couldn't help but be sucked into Vector's neat little trap, because he always tried to see the best in everybody. And that had made an ally out of Shark, so they'd had no reason to think that Vector was so twisted a mind.

Unfortunately, he was, and he'd played his cards well. Astral had doubted, and both he and Yuuma had almost payed the price for that doubt. The corrosive attacks had dwindled their life points, leaving them almost at zero. The dark power in his mind had almost killed he and Yuuma both.

If Yuuma was less stubborn, less innocent, it might have killed them both. As it was, once their Dark ZEXAL form had fallen apart, there was little hope left in Astral for safety, or victory. But if Yuuma had been like Astral and lost hope – for him, the hope for forgiveness and Astral's friendship renewed – then they wouldn't be anything after Dark ZEXAL, except the void.


	7. Yuuma&Kaito, Terrify

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

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><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Characters(s)<strong>: Yuuma & Kaito  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo. #018 - terrify

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><p>Yuuma's faced plenty of big guys before. People like Shark, and those gang not-buddies of his. Kaito's different though. There's something about Kaito that's different.<p>

It doesn't help that Astral looks as terrified as he feels. And it doesn't help that Kaito is the most crushing duellist he's ever faced – and considering he's been crushed in duels a lot, that's really saying something. But those duels didn't have Astral helping – or Astral duelling, since Astral's pretty much calling all the shots this time.

That doesn't change the fact that they're losing though, and losing badly. And it's a hundred times worse this time because Yuuma hasn't lost a duel with Astral. Yuuma _can't_ lose a duel with Astral, because a loss means he loses Astral too.

Worse, Kaito's put an extra lock on this duel, a lock that'll cost Yuuma _his_ life too if they fail this – and they are failing. Badly.

Kaito doesn't remind Yuuma of all the bullies in the playground back in primary school that'd make him cry. He reminds him of that monster hidden in the darkness of his dreams that he can't escape from.


	8. Droite, Birds

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

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><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Characters(s)<strong>: Droite  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo. #065 - birds

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><p>Birds had their own brand of beauty, but they had a certain edge to them that set them apart from butterflies. And, on the whole, she preferred the silent grace of butterflies that let them keep to the shadows and play the role of the assassin.<p>

Birds were bright and loud, and they reminded her of Gauche more than herself…but Gauche had his niche: the heroes that brought smiles to children's' faces, that was him. And Droite had her butterflies: small and petite and seemingly week but with bitter poison along their wings. Enough for her to sneak through an enemy's defences and play her cards before the opponent can think to strike back. That suits her back, even if Gauche laughs she'll never score a date that way, even if it's only Gauche who treats her like a woman instead of just another person, regardless of gender.

Birds were beautiful too, but they were sharp and loud and drew too much attention to themselves. Heroes did much the same, and Kaito didn't need two of those. He needed someone who could defend him from the shadows as well as the light – or that's what she'd told herself at first. The truth was, she preferred the shadows: the way she could catch her opponents in a web before they realised, where she could plan her stage several moves ahead and rarely ever watch it crumble. The way she could use her brains when most opponents stood against her with brawn and crumbled beneath the slow but sure poison of her butterflies.

Birds had beaks and claws, but it was a hit and miss with those.


	9. Cattrapshipping, Dominate

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

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><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Pairing(s)<strong>: Cattrapshipping (Kotori/Cathy)  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Pairing Diversity Boot Camp, #036 - dominate

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><p>They fought constantly for domination: Cathy with her claws and Kotori with her well-seasoned beak. Together, they lost the shyness or the soft-spokedness that came when they were in other, less comfortable, company. Even with Yuma, and neither could say when they'd stopped chasing him and started ramming each other head on instead.<p>

They were two of a pair, and everyone saw it. Everyone commented on how different and yet alike they were, how compatible. No-one thought it strange; it was though they were eternally to dance together, sharing the spotlight as they struggled slowly for a solo, and failed.

But, at some point, the struggle became less about the outcome and more about the ritual. Because they could only hate each other for so long before the company became tolerable. Because they could only be shoved together so many times before something gave way. Because Yuuma could only run off with Ryouga and Kaito so many times and leave them behind before they turned to each other for company.

Now their squabbles were more for fun than anything else, more because they'd danced it so many times their feet automatically followed the steps. And there was something alluring about it too, to each other, the way neither of them gave way or gave up – and their eternal spinning dance towards dominance would never end, though it no longer bothered them.


	10. Nasch&Yuuma, Dissolve

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

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><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Nasch, Yuuma, Astral  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo, #021 - dissolve

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><p>Nasch knew in a moment of his reawakening that the bonds he'd formed with Yuuma and Kaito had to be dissolved. They were strong…and if he were Kamishiro Ryouga still, he would never leave them, but he was Nasch now: the leader of the Barians. Yuuma had Astral, their enemy. Their friendship could never survive that.<p>

Yuuma would want it to survive; he would try and make it live. And it would be impossible, because one of the worlds would have to go – either Nasch or Astral would have to go. Whether Yuuma believed Kamishiro Ryouga still lived on within Nasch or not, he couldn't choose him over Astral. Probably, he wouldn't pick either at all and lose them both.

They were both lost anyway. Nasch remembered now, he remembered the past and the people he loved with all of his heart, the people he would fight for. Fight even Yuuma for – Yuuma who had saved Kamishiro Ryouga.

But Kamishiro Ryouga was dead. He'd been dead long before he met Yuuma. It was only Nasch, and Nasch would dissolve his ties with Yuuma. In their final battle for the Numeron Code if nothing else.

He had to destroy Astral…but not Yuuma. Not if Yuuma could be absolved. Not if he could be convinced to turn away from them.

Kamishiro Ryouga had tried once, and failed. But Kamishiro Ryouga was just a ghost. This time, it would be Nasch.


	11. Fuuya&Galaxy Queen, Impatient

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

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><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Fuuya, Galaxy Queen  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Character Diversity Boot Camp, #001 - impatient

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><p>Fuuya was tired of it all: tired of being Esper Robin and a fake hero, tired of being in the spotlight with his mask on and himself only in the shadows, tired of his mother always telling him what to do… So when he found a path to freedom, he took it with both hands and drowned in it.<p>

It was like a drug: he was high and giddy and lost all restraint or inhibition. Oh, somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he was causing trouble for everyone, doing things he shouldn't be doing – but he couldn't care. He'd been so tired of being perfect: the hero-face, the idol everyone looked towards. He was tired of having to behave like everyone expected him to behave – and all it had taken was a little nudge, and then he couldn't get enough of it, enough of that freedom.

And Galaxy Queen – was the sort of mother he'd always wanted, the sort of mother he wished his real one was like. She understood him; encouraged him instead of forced…and, quickly, his mind replaced her with that real mother of his, because she was just as addictive as the freedom he offered her.

He struggled to keep the mask on, struggled to pretend, to go on, so he could have those nights of freedom afterwards. But like any other drug he craved more: that loss of control, of restraint, of all the chains that tied him and his mask down –

He couldn't wait to tear it off again: he wasn't Fuuya, Fuuya the fake Esper Robin. He was nameless, free…the Galaxy Queen's, though he had failed to notice that under that drug induced euphoria.


	12. Kaito&Dr Faker, Dissolve

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

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><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Kaito, Dr. Faker, Haruto  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo, #121 - dissolve

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><p>It was impossible for Kaito to forget he still had a father, as much as the country world tried to steal it away from him. Because he hadn't done a single fatherly thing in his life that Kaito remembered: they'd lived away from the world since Haruto's birth, almost as long as Kaito could remember. What little time he remembered in the city had been with his mother, before she'd died.<p>

When she had, Kaito had been shipped to the countryside with a lady he didn't know and a baby to take care of. And they'd had next to no contact with their father since; they'd receive supplies, and that was it.

The housekeeper left him much to himself. She did the necessities with Haruto, but that was it. Kaito played by himself, played with Haruto sometimes, and grew attached – because Haruto was the only one he _could_ get attached to, could grow to love. And he'd always wanted a brother. Haruto was that dream, a dream that the countryside bred – just like it had made him let go of another dream, and forego the idea of a whole family.

It would never be whole again. Not even after Haruto had grown up a little and he'd made Orbital 7 to keep an eye on things now that the housekeeper did less of it. She did everything else instead: grew foods and flowers on the land, did all the housework: the cleaning, the cooking, the washing…and Kaito made Orbital 7, and together they raised Haruto. Without their father.


	13. Guardianangelshipping

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

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><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Pairing(s)<strong>: Guardianangelshipping (Alit/Rei)  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo, 130 – guardianangelshipping (Alit/Rei)

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><p>Shingetsu Rei was so…goofy at times, Alit couldn't help but shake his head. His targets were the three Numbers holders: Kamishiro Ryouga, Tenjou Kaito, and Tsukumo Yuuma – but whenever he saw Yuuma, it was with Shingetsu Rei attached, and he was just so different that Alit couldn't help but get a little distracted.<p>

But Shingestu Rei was weak, foolish and had to rely on Yuuma to bail him out of trouble, no matter how big he talked – or that was how it looked. He did remind Alit a little of Vector, who'd let his mouth run away with him far too many times, did his own thing regardless of the general consensus and often made one of the other Emperorors come after him. Nasch in particular had been quite displeased with Vector's usual mannerisms – just as Vector despised Nasch for reasons he never bothered putting into a cohesive explanation.

"He's annoying" did not count as a cohesive explanation in Alit's books. And Vector had his moments; he grew on people (except perhaps Nasch). And Shingetsu Rei was starting to grow on Alit as well, the longer he followed Tsukumo Yuuma around and was exposed to him.

After all, he was clumsy and foolish and weak, but he was also rather amusing at times. And useful; it was impossible to lose Tsukumo Yuuma with Shingetsu Rei round.

Though when he found out the other's true motives, he couldn't say he approved. Even if it had Vector's flair all over it. Alit was a honourable fighter. Shingetsu Rei – _Vector_ – was not.

But Alit didn't step in, didn't make him stop. Perhaps it was curiosity, or a guilty pleasure, but he wasn't to see the end result either way.


	14. Bindshipping

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

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><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Pairing(s)<strong>: Bindshipping (Yuuma/Black Mist/Astral)  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo, 170 – Bindshipping (Yuuma/Black Mist/Astral)

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><p>It was like a puppet show and he was the puppeteer, holding the strings. And as long as he had one of them, the other fell into his hold.<p>

It was easy: easy, and fun. Controlling a human body required him to do nothing to the will but he did it anyway, did it because of _him_, Astral, lurking in there. Because it would be fun to drag him out, to change him – Black Mist didn't like Astral, not at all, and so it brought him utmost pleasure to see him weak and withering.

The human, he didn't care too much about. It was only because he was Astral's host that he was involved at all – but he was a good host, as far as hosts went. Not resisting too much, rather pliable – and usefully informative too, after his feeble resistance had crumbled.

Though Black Mist had been impressed; he wondered how long Tsukumo Yuuma would have lasted if he'd assaulted him head on. Or how long Astral would have lasted for that matter if he'd had a body of his own, a body Black Mist could pleasure himself with by taking for himself.

Not that it really mattered in the end, since he had the both of them to himself.


	15. Takashi

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

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><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Todoroki Takashi  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo, 029 - Todoroki Takashi / Caswell Francis

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><p>Few called him by his given name. To his classmates, he was just "class representative" or, if he was unlucky, "class rep". To his parents, he was just "son". To his teachers, he was just "Todoroki". To the people who didn't like him or his appearance very much or had the habit of picking on any passerby, he was "boy".<p>

Oh, sometimes people like Tsukumo Yuuma slipped up and called him by his name, but that was more out of disrespect, and he'd switch back to "class rep" soon after. Then again, Yuuma was the guy who called Kamishiro Rio as "Shark's bro" – an offence he wasn't sure how the girl hadn't clobbered him for. But then again, it was Yuuma and Takashi gradually find he didn't mind being called "class rep" if it was him. Because Yuuma didn't _mean_ any offence; things just had a habit of coming out…unorthodox when Yuuma was involved.

Still, even with Yuuma accidentally calling him "Takashi" – and it was an accident; Yuuma confessed it himself – he rarely heard his given name called. His friends called him by his title. His parents called him "son". Strangers or people who didn't consider him worth remembering called him by his gender. He didn't know why; was it because he _had_ a title to be called by? Yuuma called everybody else he knew by his name…except family members, but that went without saying, since he was the youngest of them. He was the other exception, always "class rep" except for the few slip ups he got to hear "Takashi."

He _was _proud of his title, but hearing everyone else called by their name made him miss his.


	16. Nasch&Merag, Majesty

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

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><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**Character(s)**: Nasch, Merag  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo, 078 – majesty

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><p>Titles didn't matter between the two of them, because they were so close. There was no questions about it either: Nasch, the child born male, would of course be king, and Merag, the girl with the future vision, would be the high priestess. Maybe if fate had chosen otherwise: if the two hadn't been born together, if they'd been the same: two boys, or two girls, or neither with any magic at all…then maybe things would have been different.<p>

But, as it was, things fell neatly into place, and there was no such conflict between the siblings growing up. Nasch was "his majesty" to most of the world but merely "Nasch" to his sister. Merag was "her highness" or "princess" or "high priestess", but to her brother simply "Merag."

And nothing took that closeness away from them as well – though, again, that might have been fortune's hand at play. For if Merag had reached an age where she was expected to marry, she may have done so. Or Nasch could have taken his time to fall in love, instead of the empty world and echoes from the dead that demanded from him an heir – because, after all that had been lost, he wasn't about to let that demon rise from the dead to undo it all. He wasn't.

But death had been so swift and cruel that it only pushed them together. And all those other deaths took up so much room there was no space for anything else to come in, to push those things apart. Except there was one little thing. If Nasch hadn't been the king he could have lain beside his sister as well. But he couldn't because he was the king. He had to go on living. So maybe death did succeed in ripping the two of them apart after all.

Except the death of the high priestess was not mourned by him. He only mourned for Merag.


	17. Kaito&Orbital 7, parole

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

* * *

><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**Character(s)**: Kaito, Orbital 7  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo, 157 – parole

* * *

><p>It was lonely work, stopping time to search out the ones who thought themselves above it – or didn't. Sometimes they weren't aware of what they were carrying; that uncontrollable miasma hadn't quite engulfed them yet. And then there were people who knew the power the Numbers held and really did think they were above the laws of their universe…<p>

Which was foolishness, since the powers came from the Numbers and not the people. But the particulars didn't matter. Orbital stopped time, just long enough to catch the people still moving in it, and then Kaito would swoop in and catch the wriggling worms. Quick duels later, he would relieve them of the Numbers they held –

Except the Numbers weren't that common and he'd only managed to collect eleven of the hundred so far. So often it was a hit and miss, wandering through crowds with Orbital by his side and just searching for things in frozen times and just passing by otherwise.

But Orbital _was_ by his side, even though he a machine, a tool. Maybe Kaito did think of him as a companion as well…or maybe he just took him for granted, always being there doing whatever was asked, and required of him.

But during all those failed stabs in the dark, it was nice to have something else moving in frozen time.


	18. Kazuma&Yuuma

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

* * *

><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Kazuma, Yuuma  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo, 092 – Tsukumo Kazuma

* * *

><p>Kazuma knew Yuuma was special, from the moment he'd lain eyes on that little baby. He wasn't his child by blood, nor Mirai's – but that something special in him shone like a beacon and Kazuma couldn't help but pick up that little bundle of life and take him to their camping site.<p>

Mirai was understandably shocked, but soon smitten with the adorable little baby boy, and two weeks later when they returned home, it was with that child as their own.

It had been a relatively easy process. Too easy, Kazuma thought, as though fate wanted him to take that child under his wing and make him his own. He accepted that: he was rather accepting of fate in general after all the things he'd come across in his travels. And Mirai as well. Akari was perhaps the least accepting of the situation – but the little baby had proven to be quite good at worming his way into people's hearts, and soon Akari was treating him like the flesh and blood little brother she didn't have. As time went on, Kazuma wondered if Akari forgot they weren't related by blood, or if it really mattered…

Because they named him and raised him like they would have if he had been born from them. But that thing that had attracted Kazuma to him at the beginning was still there. A power that was sleeping. A destiny that would soon awaken. The reason his soul had shone like a beacon begging for life…

And, because he was a father to that boy, he worried what the future had in store.


	19. Kazuma&Astral

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

* * *

><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Kazuma, Astral  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo, 092 – Tsukumo Kazuma

* * *

><p>When Kazuma met Astral, he was reminded almost instantly of Yuuma. He wasn't sure why at first, but as time went on the pieces of the puzzle started to put itself together in his mind. He found he'd been on that path for quite some time: so many of his journeys, his interactions, dating back to the time he'd found an unclaimed baby boy and made him his own.<p>

And he realised he'd been right in sending Astral to meet Yuuma on a whim. That whim had led him well. And while at first he'd thought it was simply the intuition he'd built up as an adventurer, but now he knew it wasn't. It was destiny leading those two to meet: those two halves that were once the same spirit coming back together through time. Destiny that had been guiding him before: to all those places, all those people…destiny had been setting Yuuma and Astral up so that the world could be saved.

Though there was still so much that could go wrong, even with destiny's strong account in things. Kazuma prayed Yuuma would be able to teach Astral what he lacked, and that Astral would teach Yuuma as well. Trust, strength, courage, bonds…all those things that were necessary for a duellist, and a hero. Astral who had been reborn incomplete remembered none of that. Yuuma who was but a fraction lacked the foundation for it.

But they would come together, and Kazuma had faith in Yuuma so he would have faith in Astral as well, from that tiny little meeting they'd had. Not enough to know…but Kazuma had left those parting words he was sure would reach the other's heart. And that would draw the two together, and together they would draw closer, then become one – and, eventually, that one warrior that had defeated the evil before.

Whether their world paid the price for that or not…that was what rested in Astral's hands, and Yuuma was the only one who could touch them.

Because they might be one and the same, but in the end Astral was Astral and Yuuma was Yuuma.


	20. Fuuya, Running Away

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

* * *

><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Fuuya  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo, 153 – running away

* * *

><p>The truth is, he's still running away. Even though he doesn't have a Number's card anymore and he's more confident now and he has a friend in Yuuma and his mother's not so adamant about the personal of Robin anymore…<p>

But he still goes out in public as Robin. Though he pats his hair down and takes his mask off for Yuuya, he still feels more comfortable with it on in front of everyone else. He feels more comfortable parading around as the Robin instead of walking about as Fuuya – and he knows that only serves to make Fuuya fade into black even more, but he can't seem to help it.

He doesn't know what he's hiding from, or what he's trying to protect. He just knows there's something that calls Robin to the stage or frightens Fuuya away and instead hide behind the hero's mask. Something that stops him from being the normal kid he wants to be, even now.

But it's not necessarily a bad thing. His duelling is his own, whether he does that as Robin or Fuuya – and what does that even matter? Duellists saw heart to heart after all. No-one cared what he called himself or how he looked on the outside in a duel.

Except himself of course. And it wasn't just duels. It was everyday life as well. Fuuya rarely left the house. Most of the time, it was Robin who walked out the door.


	21. Akari&Haru, Spoil

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

* * *

><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Akari, Haru  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo, 048 - spoil

* * *

><p>Akari thought their grandmother was a little too soft on Yuuma sometimes. Like all that duelling he managed to sneak in when Akari had specifically told him he wasn't allowed to duel. And she had her reasons. Their grandmother knew full well what they were. And yet Haru would still encourage his duelling.<p>

And then there was the coming home late, the trouble he got into at school – Akari would have grounded him for life for all that if Haru didn't tell her to "let Yuuma do those important things." And it frustrated Akari to no end, because she didn't know what those important things were, just that they were related to duelling and what had stolen their parents from them and what might one day swoop in and steal Yuuma away as well.

There was a reason Akari wanted Yuuma to stop duelling, to try harder in school and to stay out of trouble. Because she didn't want to lose him, like they'd both lost their parents. And their grandmother had lost a child…so why did she encourage Yuuma instead?

"He needs to grow," Haru said often, when Akari brought it up. But that didn't have to be by duelling, Akari thought. It didn't have to be by the thing that was guaranteed to snatch him away from them.

Because her parents had warned her about duelling, about his duels. To watch them, to be careful of them – but Yuuma was growing with them out of her sight no matter how he tried to stop them, and his grandmother was helping with that. If only she'd been on _her_ side they might have been able to discourage him instead.

"Duelling's in his blood," Haru would point out when that thought crossed Akari's mind. "You won't be able to stop him. All you can really do is watch."

And, unfortunately, that was all she could do.


	22. Anna

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

* * *

><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Anna  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo, 146 – Kozuki Anna

* * *

><p>She didn't expect to leave Heartland City with a new friend. But duelling had a funny way of making such things happen.<p>

All she'd planned to do was drop in on a certain boy who'd walked all over her feelings and give him a taste of his own medicine. And maybe it was an accident that she picked the wrong boy out of the crowd and duelled him instead – but it was a good duel, even if it was a lesson she'd liked to have taken a little more softly.

But no pain no gain, as they said. And it was a good lesson to learn – that power shows weren't the solution to every problem, and that they had pitfalls of their own. Like how she'd taken so much damage from that power – even if it was infuriating to hear it explained that if she'd been a touch gentler herself, she wouldn't have gotten hit so hard…

But none of _that_ explained why she suddenly had a friend in Tsukumo Yuuma. Why she felt she had to stick around and cheer from the invisible sidelines – and jump on to the track when trouble chased after him in the semi finals. It didn't explain why she'd picked him out of the crowd _again_, to be her partner in a tag duel despite how incompatible their decks appeared at first view. It didn't explain why she came back again when the world turned on its head. Why she was willing to sacrifice her _life_ to protect him and his hope.

She couldn't answer that; no-one could – and maybe that was the beauty in friendship, how it formed.


	23. Alit&Kotori&Yuuma, Beautiful

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

* * *

><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Alit, Kotori, Yuuma  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo, 042 – beautiful

* * *

><p>He didn't think he'd find anything beautiful in the human world. He certainly hadn't expected to find <em>someone<em> and, initially, it was so overwhelming that he made a proper fool of himself.

He didn't mind. It had led to him meeting someone pretty interesting after all. It had led to a hot-blooded duel – the sort of duel he could never get from anyone else. And that was a right shame too. Unless he ever stumbled upon the Emperor's reincarnation – but that didn't seem likely. He had his suspicions about that – Yuuma did look remarkably like him, even if he _was_ part of Astral.

Well, it was the possibility. Before Don Thousand had messed with his memories, he remembered the emperor as being a kind and compassionate boy. The sort no doubt guaranteed safe passage into the Astral world. Just like he should have been himself, if it hadn't been for that interference.

But he couldn't feel bitter about that intervention anymore. He might not have gotten a second life in the human world. He might not have gotten another chance at that hot-blooded duel he lived for.

And he wouldn't have met beautiful souls of light amongst the humans.

Maybe that was what had attracted him, first off. Why she'd looked so beautiful, almost astral. She was a light. Yuuma's light. The reason, or a large part of it, why he could go on smiling in duels, no matter how the balance tipped.

The reason he'd snatched her away in that ill-fated match in Sargassso. Drowned in darkness he might have been, but he still remembered the angel he'd seen.


	24. Shark&Yuuma, Revenge

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

* * *

><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Shark, Yuuma  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Character Diversity Boot Camp, #014 – revenge

* * *

><p>He hadn't manage to colour his soul black duelling for revenge.<p>

It was almost laughable. If he had, it would have saved him a lot of trouble now. He wouldn't need to bury a thing already buried. But Yuuma had saved him. Yuuma had given him a little bit of light to hang on to, to stop him from sinking too deep.

Couldn't have been Lady Macbeth, could he? And he, Shark, would have been Macbeth – or not. He wasn't so weak spirited. He would have steeped the knife in blood himself if it had come to that. That's what he was doing now, after all. Stepping into that puddle of blood so he couldn't turn back from his destiny.

And it would have been easier if he'd already been coated in blood. If Yuuma hadn't held him back – if he hadn't gotten to enjoy all that extra time he'd had.

That extra time made things much harder too. Making friends so firm he could barely face up to losing them. But he had to. It was impossible, now that he knew the truth. Barian and Astral. Impossible. Those ties of the past – they had to be broken, along with his soul. Broken so he couldn't shed tears of remorse at the rain of blood that was about to fall.

If his soul had already been coated black he wouldn't have had such ties to break. If he hadn't met Yuuma he wouldn't have had such ties – because they all came back to Yuuma in the end. He would have been comfortably in his little gang without him.

Or he wouldn't have. Did the intervention of Tron come back to Yuuma too, or not? That was a tricky question, and an inconsequential one. He didn't think he could truly, whole-heartedly, wish he'd never met Yuuma, never become his friend.

What he did wish was that their friendship didn't have to end this way.


	25. Chris&Kaito, Empty

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

* * *

><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Chris, Kaito  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Friendship Diversity Boot Camp, #001 – empty

* * *

><p>Kaito was too young to understand how Chris could go from loving him to hating him overnight. But Chris knew – knew how one tiny bit of news could change everything: the way he looked at Doctor Faker, the way he looked at Kaito…<p>

One tiny bit of news was enough to hollow out a bond he thought could only grow stronger.

Father's apprentice was how it had begun. Mentor and mentee it had become – and then, through Kaito's determination and passion and Chris teaching him the ways of duelling, they became friends. Firm friends that began to move away from only duelling to going out for ice-cream and watching movies together and doing other things that friends did away from Doctor Faker's laboratory.

Chris had never seen that ending, but it had. By that simple bit of knowledge – of Doctor Faker's betrayal.

All that time he'd spent in the laboratory, searching – and the answer had been right in front of him. The whole reason he'd met Kaito to begin with…and it had all been for naught. Doctor Faker had known. He'd always known – he'd done the deed himself, snatching away his father and the father of his brothers just for his own selfish desire. He'd betrayed their father – and he'd betrayed that other man as well, a man who'd been a father as well and had also left children behind.

Not like Kaito. Kaito's father had come back. Chris – could, and had, always been a little jealous of that fact. Even after Kaito had found a place inside his heart – but it was different now. It wasn't jealousy. It was self disgust. It was anger. It was an emotion he couldn't tolerate.

He couldn't be friends with the son of the man who'd done what Doctor Faker had done to Byron Arclight.


	26. Black Mist

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

* * *

><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Black Mist  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo, #178 – Black Mist

* * *

><p>He was the shadow. The darkness. The antithesis.<p>

Darkness made up over ninety-nine percent of the world. Light was a measly glimmer in a sea of black. Astral was just one of a hundred cards.

But Black Mist was just one of a hundred cards as well. And even when he slowly turned the others against the light, the light outweighed him.

It wasn't right. It wasn't the way things were supposed to be.

He was supposed to outweigh Astral. Outweigh the light. The shadow that was ninety-nine percent, or greater, of the whole. Who was the blanket with just a feeble little flicker.

When had he had Astral as that feeble little flicker? Once? Twice?

Not enough. And not for nearly long enough.

It wasn't supposed to be like that.

Why? Was it because of _Hope?_ Or…was it because of Astral's host, that feeble-minded human boy Tsukumo Yuuma who'd _still_ managed to outsmart him?

How a stupid and weak human like that _could_ outsmart him – and not even once, but _twice_ – was beyond him.

He was the shadow. The darkness. The antithesis that was supposed to be so much stronger.

He was supposed to be the giant that would crush that ant of an Astral like a bug.

And yet he wasn't. Astral was stronger. Astral with Hope and Yuuma.

Even when he'd had all the other Numbers on his side, it hadn't been enough.

Then that was it. He needed a host like Yuuma too.


	27. Don Thousand&Mizael

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

* * *

><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Don Thousand, Mizael  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo, #081 – Don Thousasnd

* * *

><p>He did not feel sorry for the Barians. He'd resurrected them for the very purpose of consuming their energy to revive himself.<p>

He did not feel sorry for the ones who had fallen prey to Vector and his tricks. He did not feel sorry for Vector, and how twisted he'd become. Vector, who'd been destined to be such a _kind_ prince.

It was almost impossible to believe, watching the Vector of the now.

But he had done an excellent job. Been an excellent puppet. Don Thousand could have only spared enough to change one's destiny from toddlerhood and he had made the best choice in Vector.

And Vector had even saved him the trouble of changing Nasch's memories. And of catching Durbe and Merag in some elaborate trap: he did that all himself.

Only Mizael slipped away. Mizael: the dragon champion. Mizael, who stared at him now thinking he could make some sort of difference to the outcome, some dent in him.

He could have laughed. Mizael's efforts on the moon were for naught, and he had done well not to put his faith in Mizael. Mizael who had lost the right to lordship over the Numeron Code.

Not that it mattered. Don Thousand controlled that, and the worlds, anyway.

He did not feel sorry for Mizael, declaring a losing battle.

He was just another snack to bolster his strength.


	28. Cathy&Yuuma

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

* * *

><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Cathy, Yuuma  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo, #080 – Cathy

* * *

><p>There was just something special about Yuuma.<p>

She didn't know what it was. Maybe he just attracted cats. Or maybe not. Her friends weren't as attracted to Yuuma as she was.

It wasn't like he looked at her. Or maybe he did and it was those times where Cathy caught herself and looked away. It wasn't like he talked to her or duelled her or payed any attention at all to her…

And yet, she couldn't help but look after him.

She wanted to look after him. And protect him. Like a big sister protected her little brother. Maybe.

But he already had one of those. A big sister. And a grandmother. And a best friend. And a friend that was a girl.

There was nothing she could do that they couldn't.

Except curl up at the foot of his bed at night…but she was only so much a cat.

She would have liked to though. It sounded cosy. It looked cosy too, in dreams. But she was a human as well, and that wasn't an easy boundary to cross.

She had to content herself with watching him sleep and imagining herself curled like a cat by his feet.

And she had to wonder what that special something about him was that dragged her so foolishly to him.

Maybe he carried catnip with him.

(He didn't. She checked.)


	29. Dr Faker&Kazuma, Adventure

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

* * *

><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Dr. Faker, Kazuma  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> ZEXAL Flash Bingo, #000 – genre: adventure

* * *

><p>Dr. Faker didn't go on many adventures. And it was a shame that this one was going to have a tragic end.<p>

Because it was fun. Kazuma was a great guy to go journeying with, and Byron was the perfect balancing act. They could've made a great team: Faker and Byron and Kazuma.

They could have…but they wouldn't. At the end of this adventure, only Faker would be walking away.

And he knew it.

And it was sad.

Part of him wished there was another way. But there wasn't. And he was running out of time.

He could hear Haruto screaming as he scaled cliffs and slipped down slopes. Even when Kazuma told some joke that had Byron in stitches, Faker could only force a smile. Even when Byron told some story about his kids and Faker cast his mind back to when _his_ two kids had been that happy. He couldn't remember. He could only remember them screaming.

And that screaming was a damper on the fun. Scaling cliffs ten times his height that he would have quaked at the sight of. And he still did. But Kazuma was a pro at scaling such cliffs. He grinned and set off and yelled which ways to go and which ways to not. And when they traversed ruins it was a mind and heart-racing trip, wondering where a new trap would spring up from…but Kazuma was a pro at those as well, and they'd make it through without setting off too many traps at all.

Not too few to be boring though. Just enough to be an exciting trip without the almost getting killed too many times factor.

Except Faker knew that two of them would be killed. Sacrificed. And he'd be the only one to carry those memories hone.


	30. Akari&Yuuma, woebegone

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

* * *

><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Akari, Yuuma  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Yugioh all seasons/verses flash bingo, #212 – woebegone.

* * *

><p>Yuuma cried like a baby when their parents failed to come home, but Akari just sat there silently. Maybe because her parents had been hinting at something big for weeks. They'd been suspecting something, expecting something. Saying she had to take care of her brother. Saying she had to keep an eye on his duelling. To be kind to her grandmother. Saying she had to stay strong for her family.<p>

In a way, they'd spent their last trip home preparing her for this. So she didn't cry. Not with Yuuma, anyway. Their grandmother probably couldn't handle both of them wailing at once and she couldn't handle her grandmother breaking down. Because she wasn't ready. She was in no way ready for a life without her parents and there was Yuuma who only realised they weren't coming back and probably hadn't even realised he'd have to live on like that.

But it was okay when she was in her room, alone, and Yuuma had cried himself to sleep. Then she could be sad and not think about the future because it was dark and lonely and quiet. Then she could be the one who cried like a baby because she didn't have to stay strong right then.


	31. Chris&Haruto, pull

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too) from the Yugioh ZEXAL Fanfiction Challenges Forum (link's on my profile).

* * *

><p><strong>Threadcounts<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Chris/V, Haruto, Kaito  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Yugioh all seasons/verses flash bingo, #396 - pull

* * *

><p>Chris was a scientist, not a babysitter. But somehow he'd wound up watching Kaito and Haruto while their fathers went on some important expedition. It was strange, because Kaito was getting older by the day and they'd stayed alone before – but Haruto was sick, so their parents felt better if there was someone else there as well.<p>

Kaito didn't look particularly thrilled at the allusion at first, but he was exhausted with worry and Haruto's restless weakness and soon found relief in the company. He could move to make soup or take a moment in the bathroom without worrying his brother would be alone, would be in need.

And in those moments it would be just Chris and Haruto. Chris with storybooks Haruto couldn't focus on for long enough. Chris with long hair Haruto would play with and Chris, for want for something else to distract him, let him do it. When Kaito came back, he could comb it again. And consider cutting it. But he wouldn't because he was too used to it and Haruto couldn't tug very hard. It was amusing, almost. A tender sort of amusement.

The sort he got with his own little brothers. Thomas had liked tugging things when he was little too.

Chris laughed to himself at those memories. Haruto didn't tug his hair nearly as hard as Thomas had. So it really wasn't that bad after all.

And it was pretty funny watching Kaito put on the horrified parent expression when he caught them.


End file.
